The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1887-09-29
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.


1t is said that more gold pens are
made in New York than in all other
cities in the world.
An ornithological expedition TO the
country about Kina-bula. the great fat
topped mountain of Borneo. has re-
suited in the discovery of twenty-one
new species of birds, including what IS
described as splendid new broadbill.
The Charleston NeIcs and Courier
urges that the South should manufact-
ure every pound of cotton grown on
its fields, and thus derive the whole
profit from its principal agricultural
product.
There are 337 blast furnaces in op-
Grafton in the United States, producing
1850 tons per week, and SIS idle,
with weekly capacity of 122.042 tons
The anthracite capacity has increased
from SS. COZ tons weekly year ago to
35.27S now.-Public Opinion.
Some instructive observations on
the supposed anti-malarial influence
exerted by sunfowers have been made
by the editor of the Monthly Journal Of
Pharmacy, who has found that a quarter
of an acre of sunfiowers will exhsle in
the form of vapor sixty-five gallons of
water day. This was in June, at a
place where the mean midday tempera--
ture was only seventy degrees Fahren-
heit.
Observations at Rothamsted, the
celebrated farm of Sir John B. Lawes,
in England, show that with an annual
rainfall of little less than thirty-two-
iucheS, each acre of land receives over
fourteen pounds of pure chlorine every
year in the rain water, or as much chlo-
inc as is contained in twenty-four
pounds of common salt. The sulphuric
acid which the soil receives from the
same source amounts to upwards of
seventeen pounds per acre annually,
and the ammonia between two and
three pounds. Thus it will be seen that
the rain possesses distinct fertilizing
properties apart from the necessary
moisture which it supplies.-M T.
Ledger.
BY observing how far the sun has.
to sink beneath the horizon before the
topmost summit of the air is cut off
from its rays, the conclusion has been
arrived at that the greatest upward
limit of twilight is some $4,000 feet,
or nearly seventy-one miles above the
sea level. II is a well-known fact that,
by observing the earth's shadow on the,
moon during the time of eclipses, the
inference came to be held by astronO-
mers that the atmosphere must be sufi-
ciently dense to produce twilight for at
least 240. 600 feet away from the earth's-
STANDARDIZATION BudQet.
Stormy Seas.-The annual average.
of dangerous storms in different seas
and CULTS has been tabulated by Mr.. W.
Doberck, of the Hong Kong observa--
tory. as follows: Arabian sea, 20; Bay
of Bengal, 115; Southern Indian ocean,
So; Java sea, 12; China sea. PA; Gulf
Of Mexico, 355. In the Antilles the
maximum frequency is in August; in
| the China sea, December; Java sea and
Southern Indian ocean. February; Bay
of Bengal. October; Arabian sea, June
-ArkansaU Traveller.
German scientists have discovered
a worm that devours steel rails. Rail-
road accidents at Hagan led to an in
vestigation of the rails. After six
months had elapsed the surface of the
rails appeared to be corroded, as il by
acid, to the extent of 100 yards. The
rail was taken up and broken, and it.
was perceived that it was literally hol-
lowed out by thin gray worm. Itis
two centimeters in length and of the.
size of the prong of silver fork in cir
cumferencc. 1t is of light gray color
and on the head carries two little
glands filled with corrosive secretion
which is elected every ten minutes
upon the iron.